So my question to all the VAMPS freaks here is, how many of you are fluent in the Japanese language? And by fluent I mean you can read, write and speak the language. You can have a conversation even if it's a simple one, and you can at least read The Hiragana Times.

I've been wondering about this for a while because I thought it seemed like many of you are fluent in Japanese so I wanted to find out.

I am most definitely not fluent I'm ashamed to say. I decided to learn on my own and had a great start a couple of months ago. Started with "Remembering the Kanji vol. 1" by Heisig and also using Byki software. And on top of that listening to the news in Japanese and as much Japanese stuff as I can find. But after a few months I got a little lazy and unmotivated. It sucks not to have anyone to practice with.

How did you guys learn?

I know the basics thanks to anime and some mangas and I'm mostly self taught. I can read katakana and hiragana but won't know the meaning of more than 70% of the words =P I used some japanese software too ^^.

I'm taking a Japanese 101 class right now actually at a community college. ^_^ The class is half over so far, and we've learned almost all the hiragana... so I can read hiragana, but telling you what it means is entirely different. |D After the class ends, I hope to just continue with the text/workbooks I have and teach myself katakana too... and hopefully continue to use it so I remember it all!

I wish I could take it at my college during the fall, but I'd be one credit over the limit, and I would have to pay an extra almost $800 for that 1 credit, and I don't even need it, I fulfilled my language requirement already. x_x;

My Japanese knowledge is extremely limited. And a lot of what I do know, I learned from music... so it's not necessarily relevant to normal, day-to-day conversation. Unless I'm having a very dramatic day! :D

My Japanese is limited right now, but that will change though (Japanese major xD)...
So far I've taken two Japanese classes (would've been three but my conversation class got cancelled >.<) and I've learned to read and write hiragana, katakana and some kanji. I know how to use most of the particles, how to create the different verb and adjective tenses and some sentence structures.
I think I would be able to have a simple conversation(we've done it in class), but I still have a lot to learn. ^^
...I'n not fluent at all xDD

I studied Japanese in college for a year. I can read hiragana, katakana, and like 30-50 kanji. I can understand what I'm hearing/reading better than recalling it to speak it. I wouldn't consider myself the least bit fluent but I can express some feelings or tell some things about myself.

Mostly, I've been working on learning Chinese. I studied that for a semester in college, went to China last year, and have been practicing speaking/singing it. I recently bought My Chinese Coach for the DS and it's really great. So far the lessons are going in the same order my class was. And I'm learning a lot of Chinese characters. If you have a DS I recommend buying My Japanese Coach.

I took Japanese 1A at Berkeley, which is the first semester of the Japanese language course. A semester at Cal is equivalent to a year because they cram so much. Within the first two weeks, we had to know both Hiragana and Katakana. In the weeks following, we had to have about 33 vocabulary words memorized each week, as well as about 10-15 Kanji characters. By the time you complete the course, you're supposed to know at least 150 Kanji characters and can speak Japanese fluently on a conversation level.

By the time you take Japanese 1B, you're already writing essays in Japanese. I almost failed J1A and I've forgotten quite a bit. I still have the textbook, so I study it from time to time. I also participated in a conversation-exchange program up until I graduated from Berkeley. It helped a lot and I recommed it to anyone if you have the opportunity to participate in a conversation-exchange program. ;)

lolol i have my japanese coach its really good but if you dont use it every single day you forget or at least I do what you learned really fast. The best part of it though is it teaches you the essential 2000 kanji.

Well it seems a lot of you have taken formal classes, that is soooo great! I wish I could do that but right now it's not possible so I have to use any resources that I can on my own. I had considered the DS with the Japanese Coach software but in some website I read it wasn't very good. But I may re-think that now.

I think being able to practice with regular conversation is essential and it is something that I really want to do. My first language is Spanish and even though I learned English grammar in school, I didn't learn how to have a proper conversation until I actually had one on a daily basis. Music helps (for pronunciation), TV helps, magazines, books but conversation is also very important.

One website/blog that motivated me a lot was http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/ I recommend it to everyone. The technique is a bit extreme but you can adjust it to your liking.

Thanks everyone and keep practicing!

(06-11-2009, 10:50 PM)oscura_gotham Wrote: I think being able to practice with regular conversation is essential and it is something that I really want to do. My first language is Spanish and even though I learned English grammar in school, I didn't learn how to have a proper conversation until I actually had one on a daily basis. Music helps (for pronunciation), TV helps, magazines, books but conversation is also very important.

One website/blog that motivated me a lot was http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/ I recommend it to everyone. The technique is a bit extreme but you can adjust it to your liking.

That happened to me as well. My first language is Spanish and at first it was hard to have a proper conversation in English. I believe you're right, being able to practice with regular conversation is very important.

Another page that might help you guys is http://thejapanesepage.com/
It has helped me a lot ^^..